Civil Rights Division

The mission of the Civil Rights Division is:

To uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin.

Trump's nominee for deputy assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division is John Gore, a former attorney with the firm Jones Day, which has offices around the world.

Timeline

2017.01.21

Donald Trump’s choice to head the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division defended North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2, a Florida voter suppression law, and redistricting plans that were alleged to violate civil rights.advocate.com

2017.01.24

Trump's choice for a senior civil rights post at the DOJ has defended Republican redistricting laws in Virginia, South Carolina, New York, and Floridatheintercept.com

Analysis

Trump's nominee John Gore has litigated several contentious cases including (1) defense of gerrymandering (a political move to redraw voting district boundaries in a way that favors a single political party), (2) defense of restrictive voter ID rules that target African-Americans in several states, and (3) defense of the North Carolina "Bathroom Bill," which restricts the freedoms of transpeople. Because of this history, analysts view the nomination of John Gore as an attempt to undermine the protection of civil rights and the very mission of the Civil Rights Division.